Protestors Interrupt First Debt Super Committee Meeting

As Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., one of the 12 members among the bicameral, bipartisan group, made his opening statement the protestors, who appeared to be part of the group Code Pink, started yelling in the hallway outside the hearing room.

“Will the committee help or hurt job creation now and in the future,” Camp said as the chorus began from the small group were wearing pink and holding signs that said “tax the rich” and shouting, “Jobs! Jobs!”

The committee’s co-chair, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, instructed staff to shut the committee room door. But with TV wires running on the floor obstructing the door, it could not be shut properly, leading to an awkward interruption that lasted several minutes as committee members sat and waited for the protest to quiet down.

“The chair believes the American people want to see this committee succeed,” Hensarling finally said as the protestors’ voices continued to echo from the hallway outside, “so if members could perhaps speak a little bit more loudly.”

Camp continued his remarks, joking that because he’s from a big family he’s used to “a lot of background.”

But the voices from outside were so loud that several members of the committee, seated just across the room from him, noted that they could not even hear him.